By Eugene T. Lowe
October 20, 2003

This week, the Senate is expected to consider the VA-HUD Appropriations bill for FY04 funding. The House has already passed its version of the bill. Where Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers will end up when the House and Senate meet in conference to resolve differences in both version is an issue of major concern to housing supporters. When the bill comes to the Senate floor, Senators Paul Sarbanes (MD), Susan Collins (ME) and Olympia Snowe (ME) , will offer a "Sense of the Senate" Resolution, reaffirming the Senate's commitment to fully fund the voucher program. In the House, Representative Jerrold Nadler (NY) is circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter that will be sent to the House and Senate conferees on the bill that supports the Senate's language to fully fund the Section 8 voucher program.

All of this is necessary because of the Section 8 voucher program's up-hill climb in the appropriations process to reach full funding. The Administration's budget request for the program was inadequate and would have left more than one hundred thousand families homeless. The House improved on the Administration's request, but still left more than 60,000 families without shelter. The Senate Appropriations bill further improved Section 8 funding. While the Senate's bill actually funds the voucher program at a lower level than the House, there is a requirement that HUD use funds from prior years to fully fund the program.

An effort is being made in the Senate to provide solid support for the Section 8 voucher program. The "Sense of the Senate" Resolution will say: "The Senate expects the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take all necessary actions to encourage full utilization of vouchers, and to use all legally available resources as needed to support full funding for housing vouchers in fiscal year 2004, so that every voucher can be used by a family in need."

Representative Nadler's letter says, "We urge you to retain the Senate provision and the $150 million increase from the House bill in the final version of the VA-HUD Appropriations bill — and ask that you do all that you can to fully fund the Section 8 voucher program."